Blog by Steve Laug

I have been looking for a Colm Magner pipe for a long time. I have watched them come and go on eBay and never quite found the one that really captured me. Not too long ago there was fellow on Facebook selling some pipes for his father. One of the pipes was a Colm Magner that ticked all my boxes and it came in a black calfskin pipe sock. It was a shape that Magner called a boxing glove. It reminds me a lot of the signature Vesz Raindrop shape. It was a smooth finish with two patches of rustication – one on each side. It is a small random pattern with some small patches of rustication on the shank sides. The stem was custom fitted acrylic. I have included the photos that the seller included in his advertisement below. It was a great looking pipe and I looked forward to receiving it. The pipe is stamped on the underside of the bowl and reads Magner [over] Handmade [over] Canada. The stamping is clear and readable. I had the pipe shipped to Jeff in Oregon. Yesterday when I met him in Washington I picked up the pipe. The finish was slightly dull and there was a light cake in the bowl. The inner edge and the rim top looked very good with no lava overflowing and no damage. The stem is acrylic and had some light tooth chatter on the top and underside next to the button edge. There was also some calcification against the sharp edge of the button on both sides. I took photos of the pipe when I brought it to the work table this morning. It was a real beauty that I could not wait to load up and enjoy. I took photos of the bowl, rim top and the top and underside of the stem to show the condition of the pipe before I started my work on it.I took a photo of the stamping on the bowl. It is clear and very readable as noted above. Before I started working on the pipe I decided to look up information on the brand. I knew so little about Colm Magner that a bit of reading would be a great help to building my knowledge of the maker. I turned first to Pipephil’s site (http://www.pipephil.eu/logos/en/logo-m1.html). I did a screen capture of the section and have included the side bar information below. Artisan: Colm Magner (born 1961) started carving pipes in 1998. He is an actor who has had roles in movies and television shows shot in Toronto.

For more detailed information I turned to Pipedia and read the section on Magner found in the Canadian Pipe Makers section (https://pipedia.org/wiki/Colm_Magner). I have quoted to article in part below.

Colm Magner, born in 1961, is a Canadian pipemaker who presently lives and works in New York City.He previously taught Drama and Playwriting at UPEI, and continues to carve pipes and make hand-made original jewelery. Colm, who has worked as an actor/writer/director in TV/Film and theatre for over 25 years, began carving pipes while working at the Shaw Festival Theatre as an actor in 1998.

The Canadian Business Magazine introduced him as “Canada’s Up and Coming Young Pipe Maker” saying enthusiastically that Magner, concerning his artistic expression and the precision of his crafting, has already left behind many who have been carving for decades.

Fellow pipe maker Stefan Seles: “I have had the good fortune to know Colm for the past couple years and he has grown exponentially as a pipe maker in that short period of time. His signature shape that you may have seen in Columbus is called the ‘Boxer’, a sort of kidney shaped chin sitter. He sells his pipes directly to the shops in Toronto.” He used to make his way around town by public transit usually with his dear dog Liam, who recently passed away.

A word of advice about his pipes…Colm is a consummate Virginia, Virginia Perique smoker. I have found that his pipes seem to smoke best with those type of blends in them, especially the ‘Boxer’.”

Armed with that information it was time to work on the pipe. I reamed the bowl with a PipNet pipe reamer to take out the cake on the bowl walls. I took it back to bare briar. I cleaned up the reaming with a Savinelli Fitsall Pipe Knife to remove all the remnants of the cake. I sanded the bowl walls with 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a piece of dowel. Once finished, the bowl looked clean and cake free. I cleaned out the shank and the airway in the shank and the stem with pipe cleaners, cotton swabs and alcohol to remove the tars and oils. It smelled significantly cleaner once the pipe was cleaned.I scrubbed the exterior of the bowl with a tooth brush and undiluted Murphy’s Oil Soap. I scrubbed the pipe vigorously to get the dust and debris out of the rustication. Once finished, I rinsed it off with warm water. I also scrubbed out the inside of the bowl at the same time. The pipe had cleaned very well so I polished the briar with micromesh sanding pads. I dry sanded it with 1500-12000 grit sanding pads and wiped the bowl down after each pad with a damp cloth. By the final pads the briar really had a shine. I worked some Before & After Restoration Balm into the briar with my fingertips. I used a horse hair shoe brush to get into the rustication around the shank end and patches on the bowl sides. The product works to clean, enliven and preserve the briar. I let it sit for 10 minutes then I buffed it with a cotton cloth to deepen the shine. The briar really comes alive with the balm. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the acrylic with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. It really took on a shine and I knew that once it was buffed it would look amazing. I set the bowl aside and turned my attention to the stem. I polished the acrylic with micromesh sanding pads – 1500-12000 grit pads. I wiped it down with Obsidian Oil after each sanding pad. I used Before & After Pipe Polish – both Fine and Extra Fine to further polish the stem. It really took on a shine and I knew that once it was buffed it would look amazing. I put the acrylic stem back on the Colm Magner Handmade Canada Boxing Glove and took it to the buffer. I worked it over with Blue Diamond to polish out the remaining small scratches. I gave the bowl and the stem several coats of carnauba wax and buffed the pipe with a clean buffing pad to raise the shine. I hand buffed it with a microfiber cloth to deepen the shine. The pipe polished up really well and the rim top looked good. I was happy with the look of the finished pipe. The photos below show what the pipe looks like after the restoration. The Magner Handmade Canada Boxing Glove is a beautiful and unique Magner signature shape. The polished, reshaped vulcanite taper stem looks really good with the browns of the briar. The dimensions of the pipe are Length: 5 ½ inches, Height: 2 ½ inches, Outside diameter of the bowl: 1 ½ inches wide x 1 ½ inches long, Chamber diameter: ¾ of an inch. The weight of the pipe is 2.75 ounces/78 grams. This is a pipe that I plan on enjoying for a long time to come. From what I have read Magner’s are phenomenal Virginia and Virginia and Perique smokers so I am looking forward to enjoying those in this pipe. The tall bowl and shape are incredibly comfortable in the hand. Thanks for walking through the restoration of this beauty with me.